Ever After
by kiimiichii
Summary: Life at the end of the wars. Takes directly after Endless Waltz. (1x2, 5+R, 3+4)
1. Prologue: Princess and the Dragon

Ever After [1]  
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Author: Perin  
E-mail: morethir@hotmail.com  
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I woke up this morning to Destiny's Child's "Brown Eyes" on the radio, and an idea for a 1x2-centric, 5xR fic went and bit me in the arse (it *will* be primarily 1x2, but I wanted a 5xR subplot, hence this part will dominantly feature Wu and 'Lena). POV's will switch in the next part from R+5 to 2+1/1+2. ^^ It'll depend on the scene... And as for Quatre and Trowa's appearances... I'm not sure what to do with them yet (they might get a sub-subplot). ^^;;;   
  
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Friday--January 1st, AC 197.   
  
It was precisely 12.44 in the morning. Soft music flowed smoothly through hidden speakers around the lavishly decorated ballroom. The Earth Sphere government's New Year party--featuring dinner, dancing, and an elaborate fireworks display--was well underway. The countdown to midnight had passed; the fireworks have been spent; and the majority of the congregation retreated to the ballroom to resume the celebration.   
  
Off to a relatively unpopulated side of the room, Relena sipped at her champagne as she watched two certain individuals tenderly hold each other in the middle of the crowded dance floor.   
  
"Was it so unthinkable?" A quiet voice spoke beside her.   
  
Relena startled; she hadn't heard Wufei approach her, at all. "I beg your pardon?" She asked, turning to face the boy.   
  
Wufei nodded towards the couple. "The two of them. Has the possibility never occurred to you?"   
  
She frowned. "It came as a shock, yes," she replied coolly, "after all, it's not everyday that two gundam pilots make quite a spectacle of themselves by slamming the auditorium doors open; then calmly stroll in, hand-in-hand, and act like they didn't just interrupt my speech in the middle of a live broadcast of the New Year's Address to the Earth Sphere."   
  
"You exaggerate," he said.   
  
"Perhaps. After all, they didn't exactly slam the doors. They did, however, interrupt me and attract everyone else's attention. You'll forgive me if I'm still annoyed at their rather rude behavior. I expected better manners from Heero."   
  
Wufei's dark eyes narrowed. "And not from Maxwell?"   
  
Relena scoffed. "He's never struck me as a very discreet nor prudent person."   
  
Wufei shrugged. "Perhaps," he echoed. "Do you even know Maxwell nor Yuy well enough to judge or expect anything from them?"   
  
"I don't know Maxwell very well," she admitted reluctantly. Her tone took a bitter turn as she continued, "but I thought I knew Heero well enough. Apparently not."   
  
He glanced sideways at her. "In all the time you've been following him around, did he ever confide in you?"   
  
"Confide what?"   
  
He shrugged again. "Things. Anything. Has he confided anything at all of personal importance to you?"   
  
She gave him an indignant look. "Of course."   
  
"But he didn't tell you anything about this."   
  
Relena sighed. "No."   
  
Wufei nodded, as if in confirmation to his thoughts. He turned fully, and gave her a searching look. "Do you wish them apart?"   
  
She stiffened. "What makes you think so?"   
  
His gaze turned sardonic. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's the fact that, for the last two years, you can hardly leave him alone."   
  
Her eyes narrowed. "I care for his well-being, Wufei."   
  
"You're evading the question."   
  
Another sigh from her. "No, I-- no," she whispered. "I don't wish for them to break up." She said nothing more, but turned back, seeking the still-dancing couple.   
  
They stood for a moment in silent observation. Wufei's eyes brightened slightly in amusement as he watched Duo laugh and try to dip a sullen Heero.   
  
When Relena spoke again, her voice was wistful. "Doctor J once told me that my eyes reminded him of Heero's, when he was younger. During the war, though, I've never seen anything in his eyes but frigid determination. There was no trace of the innocent, kind little boy that J had spoken of. Look at him now, Wufei. Look at them together. They look...happy. At the risk of sounding ridiculously cliché, I'll say Duo looks as radiant as the sun. Under his warmth and affection...I can see the ice in Heero's eyes beginning to thaw."   
  
'Yes," Wufei responded, "Duo tends to have that effect on people.'   
  
Ruefully, Relena laughed. "We make a sad pair, don't we?"   
  
He gave her a raised eyebrow. "Oh?"   
  
"Yes," Relena said, still smiling, "look at us, standing off to the side, shrouded by shadows, watching our hearts' desire waltzing happily together."   
  
Wufei tensed, his head snapping sideways to give her a look.   
  
She chuckled at her companion's stunned expression, "I can tell that you've depended on Duo's courage and strength as much as I have on Heero's." She hesitated on her next words, "I won't pry into what happened between you and Heero during the Mariemeia incident, and I won't ask the motives behind your decision then, to join Dekim Barton... but, no matter what happened a few weeks ago... I can see now that you would sooner eat a newborn than tear them apart."   
  
He gave a wry twist to his lips. "I used to pride myself at being unreadable."   
  
She took a step towards him and put a gloved hand to his arm. Relena smiled up at him. "Wufei, to empathize is the ability to identify with the feelings of another person. Heero and Duo are together now, and they have to be strong for each other. They can't be our foundation anymore."   
  
Wufei gazed back, lost in her resigned eyes, and finding the truth in her words.   
  
She dropped her eyes, then, and a slight blush took over her features. "But perhaps, we might not be as weak...or as lost without them as we thought."   
  
Dark eyes softened as Wufei understood. Without a word, he gently took Relena's hand from his arm. And, interlacing their fingers, the former pilot slowly led her towards the dance floor.   
  
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A/N: I don't know what the actual days of the week are, in the AC timeline, so I made my own. *ahem* Also, sorry if I got the Mariemeia timeline all wrong...I'm too lazy to re-watch EW.... but if I remember correctly (which is kinda doubtful, since I take after my senile grandmother when it comes to memory), it happened and finished within and around the Christmas season, yes? If not, I would gladly like to be corrected before I start the next part. ^_^  
  
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	2. Episode 1: Socks to be You

Ever After [2]  
  
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Author: Perin Emeraldlaughter (morethir @ hotmail.com)  
Archive: http://chocolat.sinfree.net/  
  
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Episode 1: Socks to be You  
  
  
  
Sunday. January 3, AC 197.   
  
07:30 AM.  
  
Despite it being an early weekend morning, the man with the cobalt blue eyes and unruly brown hair had been awake since the crack of dawn. For some reason, his deeply instilled discipline of self never got the hang of sleeping in and encouraging lazy mornings and brunches-in-bed, even though there had always been the added incentive of spending the time in decadence with his beautiful long-haired boyfriend.  
  
By half-past-seven, even though it was a Sunday, Heero had already cooked breakfast for two, had taken a shower, and was now dressed and standing in the master's bedroom, his wet hair momentarily combed into submission.   
  
And even if he'd wanted to dally the whole morning in bed with his lover, he unfortunately had to spend the day at Preventer's HQ, doing the paperwork he'd put off in favor of attending Relena's New Year party the other night before.  
  
All he needed now was a pair of socks before he put on his boots, and he was good to go. Heero, in consideration to his sleeping companion, quietly made his way towards their shared dresser. However, all thought to leaving Duo undisturbed flew out the window as he looked into his underwear drawer. His eyebrow twitched.   
  
"Duo?" he called, knowing that the other, who can sleep perfectly oblivious to his surroundings in the hours between midnight 'til dawn, would subconsciously shift his awareness to either a light or moderate doze towards the early hours of the morning.  
  
"Yeah?" came an instant, if muffled response from the tangled pile of braid, pyjamas, blankets and duvet on the bed.  
  
"Are you colour-blind?"   
  
"Huh?"  
  
Heero repeated his question slowly.  
  
Duo's sleepy violet eyes peeked out from under the duvet. He blinked. "Wha--" yawn, "no, don't think I am. Why'd you ask?"  
  
With a small smirk tugging at his lips, Heero turned around and moved to sit on the bed beside the braided man. He held up a mismatched pair of socks. "You did the laundry last night. Like you do every other Saturday night since we moved in together. Are you aware of regularly pairing up almost all of my navy socks with my black ones?"  
  
Duo grinned sheepishly. "Oops? They all looked the same to me under yellow light at three in the morning." He sat up and playfully whacked the other with his pillow, "and thank you for asking *now*, after two *years* of knowing your partner, and spending a quarter of that time living and *sleeping* with him under the same roof! You'd think you'd know by now that I can distinguish colors just fine, thankyouverymuch." Then he suddenly stopped talking and blinked in surprise. "Wait--you have *navy* socks?!"  
  
Heero chuckled. "That's why I asked if you were colour-blind, baka. You'd think you'd know by now that I had them, after being my partner for two years, and living and sleeping with me under the same roof for six months," he mimicked, grabbing Duo's pillow and halfheartedly whacking him back. Then he frowned slightly. "I didn't know you stayed up that late," he said apologetically; ready to send his lover back to sleep.  
  
"Hey! You didn't start wearing anything other than white socks until *after* the Eve War!" He sniffed mock-offendedly. "I know for a fact that you only ditched most of those schoolboy whites after you joined the Preventers, where dark-colored undergarments are a nice --and sexier--" here he leered at Heero's crotch as if he could see through his slacks to his black boxers, "--complement to the uniform." He regarded Heero's raised eyebrow with some amusement. He huffed. "Okay, fine," another sheepish grin, "I know that's no excuse for not noticing that half your socks are blue until now, but really, they just look all the same to me." Duo leaned against his companion's shoulder and snickered. "Does that mean you've been wearing mismatched socks to work every other week for the last six months?"  
  
Heero snorted. "No. I re-match them every Monday morning."  
  
Duo snatched the socks from Heero's hands. "Then what's the problem?" He asked mildly, examining the pair. He blinked again and grinned wryly. "Oops," he stared at the sock in his left hand, "this *does* look like navy blue under natural lighting. Sorry!" He pecked an apologetic kiss to Heero's cheek.  
  
Heero took the socks from Duo's hand and gently guided him to lie back on the bed. "Nothing's the problem, and it's okay. I'm sorry to have woken you over this. Go back to sleep."  
  
Duo yawned again and moved obediently under Heero's hands. He felt the blankets and duvet surround him, and smiled shyly. "Thanks, Heero," he whispered, eyes drifting closed in contentment, "and one more question: if you noticed it all along, why'd it take you this long to call me on it?"  
  
Heero was silent for some time, just gazing down at him. When Duo's breathing gradually evened out, he gently brushed the chestnut bangs back, answering softly, "It's one of your funny quirks. I think it's endearing."  
  
The braided man was drifting off, but he was alert enough to hear his lover's response. A slight blush stained his cheeks as he felt the tender brush of Heero's lips against his forehead.  
  
'When it's my turn to do the laundry,' he thought fuzzily, 'I'll make sure to mismatch his socks again.'   
  
And Duo's smile widened as sleep claimed him.  
  
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End Episode 1  
  
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A/N: Episode (Webster defines this as 'an incident or scene within a narrative'). Heh, that fits better than 'part' or 'chapter,' I guess, since there's not much written for it to be classified as either. ^^;;; The plot might show itself eventually (or not -_- *kicks muses*). Feedback craved and much appreciated.  
  
Thanks for reading!! 


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